HEADLINES
Citation X (top) and JPATS Citationjet debuts rounded off Cessna's year
Cessna notches up
first-flight double
Cessna flew not one, but two, new aircraft in the
closing days of 1993. The com
pany's contender for the US Air
Force/Navy Joint Primary Air
craft Training System (JPATS),
Model 526 JPATS Citationjet,
was flown for the first time on
20 December. A day later, the
first prototype Model 750 Cita
tion X high-speed business jet
had its maiden flight.
Cessna's JPATS contender is
based on the Citationjet small
business jet and shares the
aircraft's Williams Rolls-Royce
FJ44 (military designation
F129) turbofans and natural-
laminar-flow wing. The aircraft
has a new tandem-seating fuse
lage and revised tail with low-
set horizontal stabiliser.
Cessna plans to certificate
the aircraft to civil Federal
Aviation Rules Part 23 by mid-
May, in time for the JPATS
fly-off evaluation. The JPATS
Citationjet is the only US de
sign — and the only twin-
engined trainer — among
seven confirmed contenders for
the 766-aircraft, $6-7 billion
contract, expected to be
awarded by early 1995.
The Citation X is Cessna's
largest aircraft and the fastest
business jet yet designed, with
a projected maximum speed of
Mach 0.9 based on the power
of two Allison Engines AE3007
(formerly GMA3007) turbo-
fans. The first flight had been
delayed, and the aircraft was
flown unpainted to get it air
borne by the end of 1993. •
Martin Marietta to buy GD Space
Martin Marietta has signed a definitive agreement to
buy the General Dynamics
Space Systems division for
$209 million in cash. The sale
has been approved by the
boards of both US firms, but
it still faces a US Government
anti-trust review. Martin
Marietta expects it to be com
pleted by 30 April, however.
The acquisition does not
include real estate, worth
about $50 million. If the sale
does not win federal approval,
Martin Marietta will pay $10
million to GD in lieu of
completing the transaction.
Norman Augustine, Martin
Marietta's chairman and chief
executive, says that the deal
allows his company to enter
the intermediate-launch-vehi
cle market, with GD's Atlas
booster, and the high-energy
upper-stage market, through
the Centaur programme. Mar
tin Marietta builds the Titan
rocket and refurbishes Titan 2
missiles for US Air Force and
NASA launches, but pulled
out of the commercial
launcher business in 1992. It
also builds the external tank
for the Space Shuttle.
The GD space unit recorded
sales of $500 million in 1992,
with a backlog of about $2.5
billion. It employs 3,700.
Martin Marietta's strategy is
to grow, despite Pentagon
cutbacks, while GD has
adopted the opposite strategy.
It has sold its tactical-aircraft,
missile, electronics and com
mercial-aircraft operations,
leaving only armoured-vehicle
and submarine production. •
Maersk to launch 737-X in Europe
Maersk Air is to become the first European operator of
the Boeing 737-X, after signing
a memorandum of understand
ing (MoU) with the US firm.
The MoU covers six 737-
300Xs (the middle-size mem
ber of the next-generation 737)
plus six of the same type,
subject to re-confirmation.
The Danish independent air
line says: "The MoU will serve
as the outline for a definitive
agreement expected to be
signed early next year [19941".
The first aircraft is scheduled
to be delivered in late 1997.
Maersk has also ordered two
737-300s, for 1995 delivery, in
a deal worth $72 million.
The 737-X was launched in
November, with an order from
Southwest Airlines for 63, with
a further 63 on option. •
DASA baulks at Eurofighter split
BY DOUGLAS BARRIE
As part of a controversial re-jig of management re
sponsibility on the Eurofighter
2000 digital flight-control sys
tem (DFCS), GEC-Marconi
may take a share of the finan
cial risk of the development.
It is understood that the
move would see British Aero
space, Deutsche Aerospace
(DASA) and GEC-Marconi
sharing DFCS management
equally, as well as the financial
risk should there be over
spending. The change is being
strongly resisted by DASA.
The German company has
system-design responsibility
(SDR) for DFCS development,
with GEC-Marconi Avionics
(GMAv) as a prime subcontrac
tor. Serious problems have
been the main contributory fac
tor in a two-year delay to the
Eurofighter 2000 first flight.
To retain control of DFCS
development, DASA is offering
to relinquish equipment-design
responsibility on the ECR90
multi-mode radar.
DASA claims: "There will be
no shifting of the flight-
control-system SDR to any
body." While a DASA technical
director may still sign off the
SDR-clearance document,
Eurofighter and GMAv officials
say that managerial authority
will not remain with DASA.
GEC sources suggest that,
while it is interested, the
"...legal and contractual impli
cations are a bit tricky. We've
got grave reservations about
how this split will be done.
There are parts of the system
which GEC is not involved in,
so the whole thing has got to
be looked at very carefully."
Such a move would almost
certainly require the approval
of GEC chairman Arnold
Weinstock. Even if GEC does
not become involved, a 50-50
split between BAe and DASA
will still be.pushed through,
sources say. •
See feature, PI 9.
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 January, 1994 5